Rap mogul Diddy allegations call for a full investigation
No criminal charges have been filed against hip hop mogul Sean Combs, though one of his two mansions on Star Island in Miami Beach — and one in Los Angeles — were raided by Homeland Security agents last week. Nonetheless, it’s a disturbing development that has sparked a national media frenzy.
The question: Is Combs — better known as Diddy — another South Floridagrown Jeffrey Epstein?
The federal investigation into sex trafficking, as the Miami Herald reported, will soon reveal crimes committed, if any.
For now, investigators are looking into shocking allegations against Combs detailed in four civil lawsuits filed in recent months, plus whatever evidence agents have gathered from the raids.
The most damning lawsuit was filed earlier this year by a record producer who is alleging that Combs, his staff and executives engaged in “serious illegal activity,” including using drugs, possessing illegal firearms and providing drug-laced alcoholic beverages to sex workers and also minors.
In other lawsuits, women allege Combs promised to launch their singing careers, then sexually abused them, trafficked them and forced them to have sex with other people. Combs settled a suit filed by singer Cassie in
November that accused him of raping her. Her suit appeared to open the door for others to file.
If these allegations are true, Combs deserves to be compared to and treated like the late Epstein, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and singer R. Kelly — all once powerful millionaires who used their influence and power to take advantage of young women.
Like those men, Combs cultivated an image of luxury and excess that might have been used to lure women into dangerous situations or exploitation. There were frequent parties at Combs’ Star Island home at all hours with a revolving door of strangers, a neighbor told the Herald. Through the civil lawsuits, there are indications that Combs cultivated an environment where his victims feared speaking out.
If the allegations are true, then Combs used his position of power over aspiring female artists, models and assistants in a manner comparable to Weinstein’s serial abuse of women hoping to advance their careers in Hollywood.
Who was there willingly, and who was not? Those details are shrouded in a cloud of privilege and tucked behind iron gates.
In December, following the civil lawsuits, Combs stated on Instagram: “Enough is enough. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged...”
Then in February, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, filed his explosive civil lawsuit alleging Combs was running a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization” — in part, in our backyard. Jones adds that Combs also groped him and forced him to engage in sexual acts with local sex workers.
In the lawsuit, Jones said that Combs, his staff and music executives knew about — and were involved in — illicit and unwanted sexual activities in Florida, New York, California and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Miami Herald reported. Some of those involved were identified as sex workers recruited at Miami strip clubs, at Combs’ urging, Jones alleges.
This is reminiscent of the types of behavior Epstein, with a home in Palm Beach, engaged in. He also had a private jet, a Caribbean property and loyal employees.
What’s next? A source told Miami Herald reporters that Combs flew on his private jet to Antigua and Barbuda after speaking to federal agents at OpaLocka Airport on Monday, but it’s uncertain where he is. Photos from TMZ last week showed him at a Top Golf in the Miami area.
The federal investigation into Combs has only just begun. It may fizzle out, but his actions should be thoroughly investigated.
No one should be able to wield the type of unrestrained influence that allows for human trafficking and abuse and no one, no matter how wealthy or famous, should be above accountability when it comes to potentially monstrous crimes.
The entertainment industry and society at large cannot afford to keep giving passes to powerful men who use their status to abuse others systematically.